Hello, and thank you so much for coming to my blog. I have consolidated my older and newer blog now, and from now on, will infrequently post here. My new venture is now at CreativeMeInspiredYou, a blog filled with crafty bliss. I post recipes, home crafting, crafts for kids and teens, clothing, and much more. Please stop by and see, I'd love to see you there!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Halloween Ghouls
Hello my friends. Another not so crafty post today. I have been
wanting to share my girls' Halloween costumes with you. Since Sandy had
just hit us, and there was widespread damage to trees and power lines,
our Halloween was postponed until Friday after Halloween. We settled for
a quick jaunt around a close by neighborhood, since we don't actually
live in one. ( which is perfectly fine with me!)
My girls are getting older, and cute, fun costumes are not desirable. Especially with Alizabeth obsessed with zombies. She thinks they are pretty cool, and often plays zombie hunting games on the game system. I think zombie makeup is cool too. I often wonder and think to myself, how much my life would be different if I had pursued makeup as a career. Not fashion makeup, horror makeup. You might see some mistakes, but I have models who don't like me getting too close to their eyes, and I definitely don't have the 'correct' makeups for some use, but since we were just trick or treating,perfection wasn't a big deal. When the girls were younger, I loved painting their faces, and they loved it too, until I was done, then they wanted to scratch and couldn't, so less and less as they have gotten older have I been allowed to do it.
Annalise thought that going as a DOLL was pretty scary stuff. I mean, how many horror stories are focused on dolls. So here is my Doll Baby.
I love those big fake eyes, and the tiny little lips. She wore an old dress of Alizabeths, with dress shoes and crinoline at the bottom. She looked great.
I have deliberately put Alizabeth second, so you can run away and chose NOT to look at her pic. I used a cheapie cheapie makeup kit and used the fake scar stuff to rough up her cheeks. I also used black paint mixed with the red blood to create a more realistic look. She has touches of green in the pale makeup, as well as two shades of red blood.
I WARN YOU< THIS IS SCARY!!!
OK.
Here she is...
once we went outside, I took the rest of a tube of blood and oozed it down her arms and neck and hair. She loved it. She was quite scary and frightened many of her teenage friends.
Happy Hooooooowwwwllllloween!
My girls are getting older, and cute, fun costumes are not desirable. Especially with Alizabeth obsessed with zombies. She thinks they are pretty cool, and often plays zombie hunting games on the game system. I think zombie makeup is cool too. I often wonder and think to myself, how much my life would be different if I had pursued makeup as a career. Not fashion makeup, horror makeup. You might see some mistakes, but I have models who don't like me getting too close to their eyes, and I definitely don't have the 'correct' makeups for some use, but since we were just trick or treating,perfection wasn't a big deal. When the girls were younger, I loved painting their faces, and they loved it too, until I was done, then they wanted to scratch and couldn't, so less and less as they have gotten older have I been allowed to do it.
Annalise thought that going as a DOLL was pretty scary stuff. I mean, how many horror stories are focused on dolls. So here is my Doll Baby.
I love those big fake eyes, and the tiny little lips. She wore an old dress of Alizabeths, with dress shoes and crinoline at the bottom. She looked great.
I have deliberately put Alizabeth second, so you can run away and chose NOT to look at her pic. I used a cheapie cheapie makeup kit and used the fake scar stuff to rough up her cheeks. I also used black paint mixed with the red blood to create a more realistic look. She has touches of green in the pale makeup, as well as two shades of red blood.
I WARN YOU< THIS IS SCARY!!!
OK.
Here she is...
once we went outside, I took the rest of a tube of blood and oozed it down her arms and neck and hair. She loved it. She was quite scary and frightened many of her teenage friends.
Happy Hooooooowwwwllllloween!
Halloween Decor Tealights
I have been creating and putting off finishing my halloween
creations. When we moved here, I sold all my halloween decor, and
haven't decorated for fall/halloween in a few years. I have recently
over the past 2 years begun to miss it. I think I have drawn away from
the fun/cutesy looking items into more, creepy, spooky items. You'll be
able to see that with these creations, nothing cute about them. I
seriously recommend shopping at the dollar store for some items. I found
that just a simple spray of paint can create items you might spend a
LOT more money on. So let me show you.
lots of filters here on this photo , let me snow you what I created.
First, the dollar store creepy (not!) plastic skull. and some NO longer colored bugs and spideys. Just take your items and place them in a box, take them and some $.99 cheap black shiny spray paint outside, and spray away. I also glittered the skull with black glitter (Yudu glitter). Seriously good looking stuff, and for what- $2? can't beat that with a stick.
I added some dollar store netting and spider webs. Check out that creepy spider, 2/$1! Doesn't that skull look great. You should have seen the terrible paint job on him originally. Tip of the day- think about what else you could put a coat of paint on that would look like a much more expensive buy. Oh goodie, look at the pic I found, you can see the terrible skull, and how much nicer he looks now.
Look at my fun jars and tealights! Wanna see how those are made? Gonna be a long post today folks!
Let's start with the tea lights.
You'll need, two small fishbowls, two glass candlesticks, some alcohol inks, and some e6000 or craft goop ( silicone adhesive.
Originally I had planned on multiple colors, but I only ended up using Black, Red, and Purple.
Place some plastic down, so your inks don't ruin your surface.
Using black, run droplets of ink at top of glass, then let them slide down into the bottom of the glass.
Do the same thing with the candle stick.
Now add purple, letting it drip and blend.
On the outside of the glass, you'll want to put the red. You don't want it to mix with the purple and black.
Now let them dry. Then you put the glass bowl on top of the candlestick with the Craft Goop. Let that dry, insert your tealight and enjoy your spooky candle tealights!
Like this idea? How about using some glass jars- spaghetti, salsa, cheesewhiz, etc.. You just need clean glass jars, some fun spooky stuff, craft goop, black paint, some black beads, and some more glass candleholders.
So basically, you are going to do a lot as the tealights steps. This time, paint only the candleholders and the jar lids, when those are dry, use the Craft Goop to glue the round bead to the jar lid, and the jar to the now black candle holders.
Insert your fun stuff into the jars. I used small skeletons I cut up from the dollar store, even the small brown ones were a banner. I added a couple dollops of hot glue to the inside of the spider jar, dropped in some webbing and then pulled it up and over the rim, twisting the lid in place to keep the webbing in place.
I tossed in a few spiders when I could. But the jars were too plain for me.
They needed labels. I googled free halloween printable labels and found some. You can find tons of them, just use what you like.
( and size them to your needs with a program like Word)
I decorated each jar differently, but the same. Using buttons, spiders, cheesecloth, netting, twine and plastic bugs.
I am so happy how my jars turned out. I might try to find a jar for one of those large spiders next year. I also hear that dried moss, spray painted beans, and hand sanitizer make creepy jar additions.
Happy Hallow- SCREAM everyone!
lots of filters here on this photo , let me snow you what I created.
First, the dollar store creepy (not!) plastic skull. and some NO longer colored bugs and spideys. Just take your items and place them in a box, take them and some $.99 cheap black shiny spray paint outside, and spray away. I also glittered the skull with black glitter (Yudu glitter). Seriously good looking stuff, and for what- $2? can't beat that with a stick.
I added some dollar store netting and spider webs. Check out that creepy spider, 2/$1! Doesn't that skull look great. You should have seen the terrible paint job on him originally. Tip of the day- think about what else you could put a coat of paint on that would look like a much more expensive buy. Oh goodie, look at the pic I found, you can see the terrible skull, and how much nicer he looks now.
Look at my fun jars and tealights! Wanna see how those are made? Gonna be a long post today folks!
Let's start with the tea lights.
You'll need, two small fishbowls, two glass candlesticks, some alcohol inks, and some e6000 or craft goop ( silicone adhesive.
Originally I had planned on multiple colors, but I only ended up using Black, Red, and Purple.
Place some plastic down, so your inks don't ruin your surface.
Using black, run droplets of ink at top of glass, then let them slide down into the bottom of the glass.
Do the same thing with the candle stick.
Now add purple, letting it drip and blend.
On the outside of the glass, you'll want to put the red. You don't want it to mix with the purple and black.
Now let them dry. Then you put the glass bowl on top of the candlestick with the Craft Goop. Let that dry, insert your tealight and enjoy your spooky candle tealights!
Like this idea? How about using some glass jars- spaghetti, salsa, cheesewhiz, etc.. You just need clean glass jars, some fun spooky stuff, craft goop, black paint, some black beads, and some more glass candleholders.
So basically, you are going to do a lot as the tealights steps. This time, paint only the candleholders and the jar lids, when those are dry, use the Craft Goop to glue the round bead to the jar lid, and the jar to the now black candle holders.
Insert your fun stuff into the jars. I used small skeletons I cut up from the dollar store, even the small brown ones were a banner. I added a couple dollops of hot glue to the inside of the spider jar, dropped in some webbing and then pulled it up and over the rim, twisting the lid in place to keep the webbing in place.
I tossed in a few spiders when I could. But the jars were too plain for me.
They needed labels. I googled free halloween printable labels and found some. You can find tons of them, just use what you like.
( and size them to your needs with a program like Word)
I decorated each jar differently, but the same. Using buttons, spiders, cheesecloth, netting, twine and plastic bugs.
I am so happy how my jars turned out. I might try to find a jar for one of those large spiders next year. I also hear that dried moss, spray painted beans, and hand sanitizer make creepy jar additions.
Happy Hallow- SCREAM everyone!
Toffee Chex Mix
I have been on a Chex mix kick. First we experimented with Nutella
Puppy Chow, big big hit. Then I tried Cake Mix Puppy Chow. Also
delicious. However, I think we all get a bit tired of the 10x sugar
taste- which to me tends to over power the other flavors. Plus - like
any powdered donut. It's a MESS to eat.
So, on to Almond Bark and what flavors can be created. I was buying on a whim, looking for pumpkin seeds and saw Heath Bits in the baking section. *lightbulb*
Toffee Chex Mix
You Need-
1 box Rice Chex Mix
1 1/2 packages of Almond Bark
2 cups slightly broken pretzels
1 bag of Heath Bits of Brickle Bits
1/2 bag ( or more) Heath Bits
1/2 cup mini Chocolate chips
Melt the 1 and 1/2 packages of Almond Bark, I do this in a microwave safe glass bowl. The biggest one I have, this makes a LOT. After the bark is melted, pour in your cereal and use a folding motion to start bringing the almond bark up and over the cereal. ( this helps prevent breakage of the squares) Now add in your pretzel pieces ( broken ones blend into the mix better- it's asthetical) and your brickle bits. Lay your mix out on 2 large sheet pans covered with parchment paper ( nothing sticks) and immediately add in the mini chocolate chips and heath bits. Then let it cool/dry and simply break it up to put into platicware or ziplocs. It fills two gallon ziplocs.
enjoy!
So, on to Almond Bark and what flavors can be created. I was buying on a whim, looking for pumpkin seeds and saw Heath Bits in the baking section. *lightbulb*
Toffee Chex Mix
You Need-
1 box Rice Chex Mix
1 1/2 packages of Almond Bark
2 cups slightly broken pretzels
1 bag of Heath Bits of Brickle Bits
1/2 bag ( or more) Heath Bits
1/2 cup mini Chocolate chips
Melt the 1 and 1/2 packages of Almond Bark, I do this in a microwave safe glass bowl. The biggest one I have, this makes a LOT. After the bark is melted, pour in your cereal and use a folding motion to start bringing the almond bark up and over the cereal. ( this helps prevent breakage of the squares) Now add in your pretzel pieces ( broken ones blend into the mix better- it's asthetical) and your brickle bits. Lay your mix out on 2 large sheet pans covered with parchment paper ( nothing sticks) and immediately add in the mini chocolate chips and heath bits. Then let it cool/dry and simply break it up to put into platicware or ziplocs. It fills two gallon ziplocs.
enjoy!
Halloween treats
Hello Friends! I have two fun Chex treats that are sure to please your little goblins.
This Chex mix is fun and perfect for Halloween treats- for class or friends/coworkers. I know my kids have taken this to school and gotten raves from friends and teachers.
You'll need
1 box Rice Chex mix
1 1/2 blocks of Almond Bark- can find this at the Walmart. Yes, one whole and one half package, I like my chex well covered with the melted candy.
1 cup of yellow/orange/brown M&M's. I sorted mine, didn't take long- get the kids to sort while you heat up the bark.
I bag of Candy corn
1 container of halloween sprinkles
Melt the Almond bark in the microwave. I use a giant glass bowl- mine almost is to big for the micro. I heat it on high about 1 min. stir- go for another minute and stir. until it's melted, I get it pretty hot, so be careful. Then I stir in the box of Chex, and I 'fold' the cereal over and over until it's coating well. Add in the M&M's, then get some parchment paper over a couple cookie sheets and spread the mix out until it fills the trays. I work fast and sprinkled on the Candy corn and sprinkles. Let it cool and store in ziplocs or plasticware to keep the moisture out. This makes enough to fill 2 gallon ziplocs.
This Chex mix is fun and perfect for Halloween treats- for class or friends/coworkers. I know my kids have taken this to school and gotten raves from friends and teachers.
You'll need
1 box Rice Chex mix
1 1/2 blocks of Almond Bark- can find this at the Walmart. Yes, one whole and one half package, I like my chex well covered with the melted candy.
1 cup of yellow/orange/brown M&M's. I sorted mine, didn't take long- get the kids to sort while you heat up the bark.
I bag of Candy corn
1 container of halloween sprinkles
Melt the Almond bark in the microwave. I use a giant glass bowl- mine almost is to big for the micro. I heat it on high about 1 min. stir- go for another minute and stir. until it's melted, I get it pretty hot, so be careful. Then I stir in the box of Chex, and I 'fold' the cereal over and over until it's coating well. Add in the M&M's, then get some parchment paper over a couple cookie sheets and spread the mix out until it fills the trays. I work fast and sprinkled on the Candy corn and sprinkles. Let it cool and store in ziplocs or plasticware to keep the moisture out. This makes enough to fill 2 gallon ziplocs.
You can Yudu!
Jul 12 2012
WhooHoo you can YUDU!!
Posted by: Kristen Swain · Edit
Hey, Circlet friends! Kristen here today with a YUDU
post. I know, it’s been a while since I’ve shared something created
with my Yudu, and I’m sad about that. I love Yudu-ing. I keep trying to
get my children’s teachers at school to let me print them up some
AWESOME screen printed T-Shirts. but so far no one has asked. Hopefully
next year I can get ahead of them and see if one of the clubs will
create some!Today, I decided to show you a colorful and easy way to screen your favorite designs.
I decided to use a Pre-made screen , and I did mask off some of the screen. I simply used some clear packing tape, as that is what sticks really well. When you mask off your screen, you’ll want to make sure to mask the back side of the screen. This way you won’t be pulling against the tape and pulling it when you squeegie the paint.
Here is my screen in the Yudu and the three paints I used to create the fun little bag.
After putting your screen and bag into place, place your color on the screen, making sure you have a good amount. Then lift your Yudu with the screen and flood fill your screen. This fills the empty holes with color, and prepares it to go onto your item.
Now pull your squeegie over the image with paint still on it, with a firm pressure. You can see that the colors barely blend and touch nicely. I try to put colors next to each other that would make a nice blend.
Here is what your print looks like.
Isn’t that neat! I decided to dress it up a bit with glitter, then added a couple gems for the crown and a black pearl eye with fabric glue
now, I did want to try to use the Yudu glitter and glue technique, so I created a T-Shirt as well, first with my multi color technique. ( when the technique didn’t work, I used fabric glue to glitter the bird) please read on..
And you can see how the screen turned out. ( even though I goofed and put purple and orange together- it did not blend to a yucky brown). shew!!
Not knowing if the glue would work, I tried it out on my T-Shirt. The glue works best through a 70 mesh screen, but I wasn’t sure what my screen was.
After I squeegied my glue through, I put on the pink foil ( foil, flock and glitter are all applied with the same Yudu Adhesive) I followed the directions and ironed it, but…
the mesh was too fine and didn’t hold some of the foil. Now you might think it’s ruined, but I say, it’s an artistic challenge, so I took my fabric glue and I swirled and painted with it around the foil and glittered. I think the shirt turned out great. My daughter loves it and it’s quite eye catching!
There you go. Hope you have enjoyed my little multi-color technique today!
Designed by: Kristen Swain
Cricut Machines Used: Yudu Machine
Yudu Supplies Used: Yudu Silver Gliitter, Yudu Pink Foil, Yudu Brights Ink, Yudu Secondary Ink, Yudu Preburned Symphony Screen, Yudu Preburned Butterfly Flutter Screen, Yudu Adhesive
Other Supplies: Fabric Glue, Gems, Pearl Gem
Life is Bliss
Hi! Kristen here with my take on the THINK PINK Challenge! I used two different layers of scallops, plus glitter and pink!
First, I cut out the bracket piece from the background off this Cosmo Cricket Pixie-licious paper, then trimmed one part off the side, keeping both pieces. I cut out the three borders, two scallop and one latticework using the Elegant Cakes Cartridge, I added them to my bracket piece and trimmed the edges.
Using the Cindy Loo cartridge, I cut out the mushrooms in purple dot and cardstocks matching the paper collection. I pieced them together, adding glitter to the spots and allowed them to dry overnight. In the morning, I ran the mushrooms through my Cuttlebug with the Polka Dots embossing folder.
I cut my paper into a large green block, then added my photos to an orange block and added them to my layout. I cut the green dot paper with the Martha Stewart All Occasion cakes cartridge. First I popped the mushrooms up with foam tabs, then added them to my layout. I cut two pieces from the grass cut border, and adhered them to the mushrooms.
I cut out this phrase from the cutouts paper, making it into a banner, adding a large toothpick to the backside and sticking the end underneath my photo block, I also foam tabbed the banner to stick up.
I then cut my title out from Cindy Loo and adhered that to the top of the layout, typing and printing my journaling out on a scrap of cardstock and tucking it sideways along the edge of my photo block.
To finish, I added twine to matching buttons, and adhered them to the banner and two mushrooms, and I also added on a couple chipboard butterflies from the Cosmo Cricket chipboard sticker sheet.
I hope you noticed that I used my Cricut Cake Cartridges in 3 layers plus cut another with the grass border that I trimmed into my own sizes.
Cricut Elegant Cakes Cartridge
phrase – ( fit to page)
phrase- (fit to page)
- Champagne Toast- ( fit to page)
Cricut Expression
Cricut Cindy Loo Cartridge
2 inches , 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches
2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches
layer – 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches
font 3/4 inches, font 3/4 inches, font 3/4 inches, font 3/4 inches
font- 2 inches
font- 1 3/4 inches
font 1 3/4 inches
layer- 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 3 inches
Cricut Martha Stewart Crafts All Occasion Cake Art Cartridge
7 3/4
Cuttlebug Machine
Polka Dots Emboss Folder
Other Supplies-
Cosmo Cricket Pixielicious kit
Buttons/twine/glitter- craft supplies
thanks for taking a look today! I hope you will join in on this challenge!
First, I cut out the bracket piece from the background off this Cosmo Cricket Pixie-licious paper, then trimmed one part off the side, keeping both pieces. I cut out the three borders, two scallop and one latticework using the Elegant Cakes Cartridge, I added them to my bracket piece and trimmed the edges.
Using the Cindy Loo cartridge, I cut out the mushrooms in purple dot and cardstocks matching the paper collection. I pieced them together, adding glitter to the spots and allowed them to dry overnight. In the morning, I ran the mushrooms through my Cuttlebug with the Polka Dots embossing folder.
I cut my paper into a large green block, then added my photos to an orange block and added them to my layout. I cut the green dot paper with the Martha Stewart All Occasion cakes cartridge. First I popped the mushrooms up with foam tabs, then added them to my layout. I cut two pieces from the grass cut border, and adhered them to the mushrooms.
I cut out this phrase from the cutouts paper, making it into a banner, adding a large toothpick to the backside and sticking the end underneath my photo block, I also foam tabbed the banner to stick up.
I then cut my title out from Cindy Loo and adhered that to the top of the layout, typing and printing my journaling out on a scrap of cardstock and tucking it sideways along the edge of my photo block.
To finish, I added twine to matching buttons, and adhered them to the banner and two mushrooms, and I also added on a couple chipboard butterflies from the Cosmo Cricket chipboard sticker sheet.
I hope you noticed that I used my Cricut Cake Cartridges in 3 layers plus cut another with the grass border that I trimmed into my own sizes.
Cricut Elegant Cakes Cartridge
Cricut Expression
Cricut Cindy Loo Cartridge
Cricut Martha Stewart Crafts All Occasion Cake Art Cartridge
Cuttlebug Machine
Polka Dots Emboss Folder
Other Supplies-
Cosmo Cricket Pixielicious kit
Buttons/twine/glitter- craft supplies
thanks for taking a look today! I hope you will join in on this challenge!
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